Digital scales are widely employed in supermarkets and other types of commercial establishments for the weighing of items which are being sold on a "price per unit of weight" basis. Such scales frequently constitute a part of a point-of-sale terminal system which may also include a terminal operated by a cashier and a scanner for electronically reading pricing and other information from labels on items being sold. Such terminal systems normally form part of a check-out operation at which customers queue up for paying for merchandise purchased before leaving the store. In order to keep the queues as short as possible, to minimize customer impatience, it is important that the check-out operations be completed as quickly as possible. To this end, the weighing of items on the scale forming a part of the point of sale terminal system should be accomplished as quickly as is possible without sacrificing accuracy.